Compassion
Posted by anthologycreative
Milton and Fred Ochieng, brothers from a poor, remote village in Africa, dreamed of becoming doctors one day. Their father’s dream was even bigger than that. He wanted to build a clinic that would provide health care for their desperate, struggling community.
First, Milton won a scholarship to Dartmouth College. By selling chickens and cattle, his family members and neighbors in Lwala were able to scrape together enough money to buy his plane ticket to the United States. A year later, Fred received a scholarship to Dartmouth and joined his older brother there. Even though the brothers were far away from Africa in the United States, they couldn’t forget the village they’d left behind. They knew they had to do something to help their neighbors in Africa. So, the brothers began educating people about the suffering in their hometown in hopes of raising money to build that clinic of their father’s dreams. That dream became even more important when both of their parents died from AIDS.
Today, the Lwala Community Hospital serves 15,000 patients each year. In addition, they provide small-scale micro-enterprise, public health outreach, water, sanitation, and education programming to Lwala and beyond.
THINK ABOUT THAT STORY as you read Matthew 9:35-38.
What do the two stories have in common?
What are some of the things Jesus did for the people?
According to the passage, what made Jesus respond the way He did?
Have you ever done something for someone without gain? How did that make you feel?
THE POINT
Maybe you aren’t called to build a hospital. But God wants to use you to do His work on earth. When Jesus saw the hurting people, He was moved with compassion, and He took action to help them. What about you?
TAKE ACTION
Think of one person you can serve. Pray for an opportunity to reach out this week. Plan—then act on it.
“I choose kindness . . . I will be kind to the poor, for they are alone. Kind to the rich, for they are afraid. And kind to the unkind, for such is how God has treated me.” – Max Lucado
Posted in Boys, Devotions | Tagged Camp Ridgecrest for Boys, Matthew 9, Reprinted from ec magazine. © 2012 LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Used by permission., Ridgecrest Summer Camps